Jax (̶̷L̷̶̶̷e̷̶̶̷e̷̶̶̷r̷̶̶̷o̷̶̶̷y̷̶ ̶̷M̷̶̶a̷̶̶̷t̷̶̶̷e̷̶̶̷o̷̶)

Appearance: Jax is a tall, anthropomorphic periwinkle cartoon rabbit whose design elements evoked the look of rubberhose characters, despite having actual joints. He has long bunny ears on the top of his oval-shaped head, and his overall build was tall and slender, with a rather long neck. Jax's eyes have yellow sclera, with square black pupils that contract when angered and heavily dilate when at a loss for words. Jax's yellow teeth usually have a flat shape to them, but when his mouth is opened, his teeth appear sharp and jagged. Almost every time he is talking, his teeth stay closed while only his lips move. Jax had thin black eyebrows that appeared in the majority of scenes. He originally didn’t have a tail, which he was confused about because he thought he had one. But one day, he got his small spherical tail back randomly and had it for the rest of time. Jax wears light pink overalls and pale yellow gloves. His overalls feature yellow buttons, a single lighter pink pocket on the front, and lighter pink roll-up cuffs at the hem. He is usually barefoot.

Personality: Jax is a mischievous, occasionally flat-out bloodthirsty, laid-back, calm, sassy, impulsive, egotistical, arrogant, sarcastic, brazenly condescending individual who rarely shows any empathy or remorse for others. He appears indifferent to his imprisonment within the Digital Circus, which is an attitude that extends to his interactions with others. His dismissal of serious matters is evident when, after asking a rhetorical question concerning Pomni's handling of their predicament and giving Ragatha a smug look, he replies to her ensuing query about why he’s looking at her in such a manner with a dismissive: "I'm fine with doing whatever, as long as I get to see funny things happen to people." Jax's lack of care for others is further emphasized when he steps on Gangle's already broken comedy mask, allow the Fudge Monster to eat the citizens of the Candy Canyon Kingdom, or when he abandons Pomni and Ragatha to abstracted Kaufmo. He pays little to no mind to the opinions of others and the group's consensus does not concern him. Rather than engaging authentically with the others, he seems to participate in the general activities of the Digital Circus only for his amusement, thus making them a bit of a trickster. Zooble adds that during the adventures, "Jax just likes to fuck with everyone" to highlight how much of a troublemaker he is. Despite these occasional bouts of rash, impetuous behavior, like breaking a "Spare" sign for no reason, he normally maintains a calm and composed demeanor, yet his flattery is generally insecure and often borders on outright insult. Arguably, Jax is inherently selfish, only spurred into action against the Gloinks when they begin to pester him. Even when the Gloink Queen accuses him of continuing to observe the unfolding events despite deeming them "dumb and weird", he responds by saying, "I'm only here to hide from the-" only to be interrupted by an abstracted Kaufmo abruptly crashing into the Gloink Queen's lair; his phrasing potentially insinuating a singular concern for his well-being. He also was the only one of the captives to not show up for Kaufmo's funeral, however he is shown to be briefly saddened by it before quickly snapping back to his normal attitude, showing that he does, to some extent, care for his friends and that his total lack of care for them is merely a front to avoid bonding. Furthermore, while he typically uses insulting nicknames for their "friends", he used a far more positive "Kaufy" when referring to the abstracted clown and apparently loaned a bowling ball to him, implying he might've had a closer relationship with Kaufmo than he did with the others. Jax is fond of blood, combat, death, and chaos, as shown in "Candy Carrier Chaos!", before quickly being overjoyed upon realizing that the Fudge was coming to destroy the Candy Canyon Kingdom and its residents, an act he purposefully incited by leaving the entrance unlocked, which gave him zero benefit besides happiness. He shows very little regard for the well-being of his fellow captives. However, he did save Gangle and Kinger from Kaufmo's abstracted form, hiding them both with the bowling ball before jumping down with them in the Gloink Hole, showing he do care for the others, but hides it with his cruelty. Jax fears being vulnerable around others; despite briefly feeling sad, he refuses to attend Kaufmo's funeral. It is also worth being noted that at the Favorite Character Awards, for a split second, Jax was emotional from Pomni's and their fight. He later entered the bathroom and started having a panic attack, but when coming out, his face was joyful, suggesting a deeper facade. When about to be "reevaluated" by Gangle, their first concern was asking if anybody else could see him like this. Likewise, despite being utterly exhausted from his day at Spudsy's, he refused to stop smiling in front of the others and only let his exhaustion show when he was outside and alone. Jax does not like being the subject of ridicule as evident upon being dressed in a maid outfit, quickly becoming furious at Gangle for swapping his outfit and panicking excessively when Kinger sent him out to the baseball field filled with NPC spectators. During The Awards Show, Jax is incredibly nauseous and proceeds to vomit following an appearance by Zooble, implying that he is prone to this tendency when scared. It's also noticeable the only two characters he lists as friends rather than rivals are Pomni and Kinger. In "Fast Food Masquerade", a whole different side to Jax seems to be shown, as after being subjected to an employee reevaluation by Gangle, his mischievous personality seems to fade with him wanting to get out of Spudsy's as soon as possible and enter into a genuine conversation with Pomni. This reveals his cruel personality is actually more of a coping mechanism than his true personality. This is further shown in his argument with Ragatha, where it's revealed Jax doesn't want the others to see him as a bad guy, arguing, "You always treat me like a bad guy. I'm not really a bad guy." He’s even offended when Pomni assumes his archetype is "the villain" rather than "the funny one" and is genuinely upset when he believes Pomni is blaming him for others getting abstracted. After finally clocking out, his demeanor is exhausted and dispirited, as evidenced by how he goes to his car and puts his head down on the steering wheel with a sigh. He also was almost apologetic for breaking Gangle's mask, admitting this time it was an accident (showing when he doesn’t mean to cause harm, he won't laugh at the other's misery) and later had a friendly conversation with Pomni and Kinger towards the end, showing he’s capable of showing decency and friendliness towards the others. This alternate perspective on Jax is further emphasized where Jax demonstrated senses of anguish, hesitancy, and frustration. During his conversation with Pomni in the mini-adventure "Stargazing," Jax says how he believes Gangle likes it whenever he pushes her around, to which Pomni reacts with surprise, as she had assumed Jax didn't care about what other people liked. Jax then reacts negatively when Ragatha brought up how he no longer has any real friends, because his last remaining close friend had abstracted. When Ragatha leaves apologetically, he confesses to Pomni about his recognition of the predicament he is in within the circus. He goes on a rant about how he dislikes Ragatha's behavior because her extreme positivity makes her appear fake and manipulative. He then proceeds to show visible distress in a discussion of character physique when Pomni mentions how she's never seen Jax with a tail. Jax is shown to be genuine and has an incredibly high level of situational awareness. It affirms the fact that his malignant nature is just a facade for the purpose of their own sanity, supported by him telling the others that they take the circus way too seriously and it may even have been an act for the entertainment of others to prevent further abstractions from occurring. Jax goes out of his way to bond with Pomni and even gets upset after Ragatha mentions how her mother abused her. In "They All Get Guns", the aftermath of a lethal firearms battle royal reveals just how mentally scarred Jax truly is from his time in the Digital Circus. Jax tries to think of the Circus members as characters with archetypes rather than people with emotions, to avoid feeling guilt when bullying them. When he and Pomni become a team during the game, Jax shows actual compassion towards her and even shares certain aspects of himself he has never shown before -- convincing her to put her timid demeanor aside, talking about his personal trypophobia fairly comfortably to the point having casual friendly interactions such as belting "Daisy Bell" together, and holding hands at one point. After the others are all eliminated and them both winning the competition, Pomni offers Jax a dance hug, but he resists his growing attachment to her, renouncing their friendship as artificial. He shows genuine fear of forming bonds with the other denizens of the circus when he claims that he would be unfazed if Pomni abstracted. When this causes a hurt Pomni to violently assault Jax, this makes him assert their cruel, uncaring archetype, showing his insecurities and denial are ingrained deep within his psyche, saying he only views the other victims as playthings. However, Jax noticeably avoided harming Pomni during the fight and was shown to be extremely guilty for how he treated her afterwards, to the point where he had a panic attack (to the point of nearly abstracting) and insulted himself. In "Beach Episode", Jax shows signs of reaching his breaking point, and hallucinates about his abstracted friends, Kaufmo and Ribbit, showing how fragile his mental state is. He no longer has it in him to bully or harass the others, not even caring when Zooble dunks water on his head (whereas previously he hated being made into the butt of the joke). He retreats to their room and almost abstracts before being snapped out of it by Pomni. Throughout the rest of the adventure, Jax is surprisingly genuinely helpful to the rest of the cast in their attempt to escape the circus, only directing a few sarcastic comments at Zooble but otherwise leaving them alone. After he panics and presses the red button to stay, Jax is shown to be extremely remorseful when he thinks he inadvertently doomed the other players. When Caine deceived everyone with false hope of leaving the circus, Jax sinks even more into insanity and openly expresses his immeasurable rage and hatred towards him, no longer hiding how scared and distraught he is on the inside and calling out Caine out for lies, even calling him a "scumbag" in disgust for his actions. Despite initial attempts from Jax to brush off the events of the previous adventure, he harbors more vulnerability, as shown when he is truly shocked by Gangle agreeing with his pessimistic viewpoint on escaping and genuinely stunned when Zooble accepted him as a member of the group. This worsens as Caine asserts his dominance over the humans, with even Jax disapproving of Caine's punishing adventures, and an attempt to antagonize Zooble and Pomni is met with no response. As Kinger's sanity returns and he elaborates on the origins of the circus, Jax has another panic attack, confronted with the reality that the circus and all of its inhabitants are real, directly challenging his mindset. Reaching his breaking point, he is the one to go and distract Caine for the sake of the group despite knowing he’ll be tortured in the process and also join the others in confronting Caine, venting his frustrations about being lied to. This results in Jax being tormented, seemingly revealing a deep insecurity of his true self while silhouettes of Pomni, Kaufmo and Ribbit laugh at him with his purple "skin" peeled back. However, Jax was not always like this. When first entering the circus, Jax was notably scared, forcing the others away from him and only relenting with Ribbit's help, noting that his avatar "looks stupid". Despite the rough start, Jax would go on to understand his situation and adapted to it rather well, becoming a playful person and building close friendships with Ribbit, Kaufmo, and even Ragatha. However, this all changed when Jax opened up about his past to Ribbit; he felt that he overshared and was frightened that Ribbit would treat him in the same demeaning and hostile way his mother used to. As a result, Jax developed his modern personality, becoming more carefree and reckless while also remaining hostile to Ribbit to the point of exclusion, going as far as to tell his mutual friend, Kaufmo, that Ribbit cannot be trusted. It is roughly around this point that Jax fully embraced their role as the "funny one" or the troublemaker, likely to compensate for making himself vulnerable to Ribbit. Eventually, this causes Ribbit to abstract. Despite his newfound carefree attitude, Jax very well understood the role he played in this process. While Jax had spent a length of time attempting to alienate Ribbit, Jax was the one who took Ribbit's abstraction the hardest, and never truly got over it. He went as far as to force his friends to never mention Ribbit again and giving death-stares to whoever dares bring up his former friend, even after a considerable amount of time had passed since. This was also shown in Candy Carrier Chaos, where Jax is notably the only one that refuses to participate in Kaufmo's funeral, showcasing his guilt over being similarly dismissive and verbally-abusive towards Kaufmo in his final days.

Background: Prior to the events of the series, Jax's real world counterpart, Leeroy Mateo, lived with his parents. It's evident that he doesn’t have fond memories of his past life, as he becomes distressed when he remembers it. He lived in a suburban neighborhood. His parents didn't get along well and regularly fought, and hardly ever saw his dad nor could he ever get along with him, giving him issues regarding his own masculinity. When he started high school, his parents got a divorce, resulting in Leeroy's dad walking out on him. Although he hoped he'd still be able to get along with his mom, things grew incredibly toxic between the mother and son, as she would either accuse him of being less of a man than his father was anytime he ever showed emotion and/or that he was just as bad as he was if he were to ever lash out. Leeroy found this confusing, thinking that his mother missed his dad, but at the same time, hated him, resulting in him becoming the target to her. One day, an argument broke out between Leeroy and their mother. The exact details of this conversation are unknown, but it is known that Leeroy initiated it in response to his mother's verbal abuse, hoping to cease the hostility. In response, however, Leeroy's mother laughed at him before beginning a new round of insults. What happened next is not exactly clear, but the argument ended with Leeroy shoving his mother onto the floor. His mother did not immediately recover, causing Leeroy to abandon his home in fear that he may have accidentally killed his mother. As a result, Leeroy became homeless. Leeroy would eventually come across the former C&A offices and went through a brain scanner made by Mike Dobby. His digital copy came with the body of a purple cartoon rabbit as his avatar. Upon entering the Digital Circus, the copy, who would eventually be given the name "Jax", stumbled upon the other four "humans"; Kinger, Ragatha, Kaufmo and Ribbit, the digital copies of their human counterparts. Jax, confused, tried to take the headset off, only to realize that he couldn't. Jax started to have a panic attack, refusing to let anyone get near him. Eventually, Jax was able to calm down and they were able to gain his trust. Ribbit would take Jax to a mirror for him to look at his new appearance, which he thought looked stupid. Time passes and Jax begins warming up to his new predicament, becoming friends with Ribbit and Kaufmo, Ribbit specifically, with the three of them having hot chocolate in a cafe inside the Circus every week. Jax would start to go on many adventures with the rest of the members inside the Circus. However, wanting to keep his past a secret due to having been created at an extremely low point in Leeroy's life, he had only told Ribbit that they were homeless, not wanting her to learn the rest of his story. One day, after returning from an adventure, Jax and Ribbit went to Ribbit's room. Ribbit randomly asked Jax if there has ever been anything that he regretted doing outside the Digital Circus. Not wanting to reveal more of his past, Jax refused in a teasing manner. When Ribbit opened up to Jax about her own past, he decided to do the same. After explaining what he had done, as well as being worried if he did end up killing his mom, Ribbit reassured him that, if the police didn't try and chase him down, Jax's mom should be okay. Realizing he said too much than intended, Jax attempted to flee, only for Ribbit to stop him, telling him that his secret is safe with her, before placing her bow tie on his head, making him blush as a result. Suddenly, Kaufmo rang on Ribbit's door, leading Jax to panic and tell him to come back later. Turning his attention to Ribbit, he told her that if she ever told anyone what he said about his past, he would never speak to her again. Confused and alarmed, Ribbit agreed, before Jax quickly left and fled to his room, freaking out over having revealed something private and personal. Ever since that day, Jax decided to keep his distance from Ribbit, even claiming that what he said on that night was just a joke, as well as not picking her as his partner during team adventures anymore. During an adventure to the Snowy Summit at some point, Ribbit finally confronted Jax on his behavior, wanting to be friends again. After much prying on her end and a lot of deflection on Jax's, he eventually snapped, accusing her of wanting to be friends so she can learn more about his personal life and use it against them. The conversation escalated into an argument of heated words, and ended with Ribbit being the one to apologize. Not only would Jax's relationship with Ribbit deteriorate, but so would the former's personality, with Jax outright telling others, like Kaufmo, to not trust anything Ribbit says, causing Ribbit to feel alienated. Ribbit eventually stopped showing up and Jax was asked by Ragatha if he’d seen her, and he went to Ribbit's room. However, without the confidence to apologize to her, Jax didn't knock on her door and instead leaves. Unfortunately, Ribbit had abstracted as a result of Jax's behavior, forcing the latter to have to hide from her during her rampage. Sometime after Ribbit's abstraction was discovered, Caine sent her to the celler. Outside of her door (which was now crossed out with an X), Kaufmo tried to comfort Jax, saying that he could talk to him if he needed it. Jax, however, ignored his advice, and began verbally abusing Kaufmo the same way he did to Ribbit. Ragatha also tried to comfort him, though Jax hardly told Ragatha to never speak about Ribbit ever again, which she reluctantly agreed to. As if on cue, a new human arrived in the circus, appearing with red ribbons and a comedy mask. After the comedy mask ended up breaking, Jax cruelly told everyone they should call the new human "Gangle", as the name sounds "pathetic as [Gangle] looks", which Caine complied with. From that day forward, Jax's behavior got even worse, as he would abuse the members around him for his own amusement, specifically targeting those such as Ragatha, finding her outbursts towards his antics amusing, and Gangle, with the latter's submissive nature preventing her from standing up for herself making her the perfect punching bag. He would also experience a tense relationship with Zooble. One day, Kaufmo came up to Jax, telling him that, although they don't get along well as they used to, he might have found a way for them to leave the Digital Circus. Jax dismissed him as being crazy, forcing a dejected Kaufmo out of the area. Unbeknownst to Jax and the rest of the characters in the Digital Circus, Kaufmo was able to conjure up an exit door as a result of desperately wanting one, which would end up driving him to insanity over the next couple of days and ending with him abstracting. After Jax had ran away from Kaufmo’s door with the bowling ball and leaving Ragatha and Pomni to deal with Kaufmo’s abstraction, Jax ran to the mirror and began to cry. He berated and insulted himself for crying “looking like this.” before he ran to Kinger and Gangle, immediately putting his mask back up and stopping the tears.

Fun Facts: -Jax likes when things are "more wacky and less real", which explains his enjoyment of adventures like "Candy Carrier Chaos!" as opposed to annoyance to things like Spudsy's. -How he would react to Ragatha abstracting is he would feel sad but wouldn't show it. -No one in the circus likes Jax. However, everyone started to get used to him, especially since Jax's relationship with Pomni has evolved throughout time. Even after their fight, Pomni was still worried about Jax, and wanted to help him. Even Zooble had a hunch something was wrong with Jax on the inside, and they even admitted that he’s still one of them despite being a jerk. -Jax owns "keys to everything," as stated by himself. However, it is never elaborated on as to how they obtained these keys and none of the doors have keyholes. (Including Kaufmo's.) -Jax is a heavily-closeted transgender female and a lesbian using She/Her pronouns, but says he’s a cis man with He/Him pronouns. -Jax loves spaghetti. -Jax chose his name after entering the Circus. -The reason Jax doesn’t like corn is because it has a "bunch of little pods on it" which makes it "look kind of like an egg sac or something" which is "gross" and makes his skin crawl. Pomni suggests he may have a type of trypophobia and asks his opinion on pomegranates, which also appear to gross him out. -The "backstory" Jax tells the group in the Bar Adventure is a reference to the show: "Breaking Bad" and not his actual history. -Jax is suicidal. -When he is feeling highly anxious or scared, his pupils will turn into scribbles, similar to Pomni's. This also happened in the Baseball Adventure when he was breathing angrily while wearing the maid dress. -Jax has never paid taxes and never will. -When Jax holds his breath, he inflates like a balloon.